


Long Distance

by JoMo3



Series: More or Less Mileven Week [2]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Mileven Week 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-10
Updated: 2018-11-10
Packaged: 2019-08-21 10:41:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16574891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoMo3/pseuds/JoMo3
Summary: “Do you think it would work? Between us?” She sounded unsure.“Of course it would, El,” he answered without hesitation. “If we could survive 353 days, demodogs, and Mind Flayers, we could survive anything. Even something as painful as being separated for a while.”Eleven and Mike talk about long distance relationships and being separated from one another.





	Long Distance

**Author's Note:**

> A couple days late, but here's day 1's theme. Enjoy.

They lay in Mike’s backyard, looking up at the near-cloudless sky on a warm June day. Days like this- where there were no monsters to kill, nobody to save, and it was all quiet in the town of Hawkins-were something that El had come to cherish. It was the kind of day that she loved, after being tucked away in the lab for all those years; never seeing the outside world, never feeling the warm sun on her face or enjoying the cool breeze blow through the hair she hadn’t been allowed to grow. Something as simple as feeling the grass tickle her bare arms was enough to fill her up with happiness.

The fact that she was in the company of her favorite person certainly didn’t hurt things, either.

He was currently talking about his older sister and her boyfriend.

“...so Jonathan got an internship at the Herald-Times for the summer, and he’ll be staying in Bloomington. Nancy wanted to go with him, but my mom and dad said she can’t. So she’s being all cranky and stuff.”

“Hm.” Turning slightly, she asked “What’s an internship?” Although her vocabulary had improved drastically, there were still some words that she got stuck on.

“It means...well, Jonathan wants to be a photographer, you know, someone who takes pictures?”

“Yes.”

“And so he got this job over the summer where he can get, like, practice being one. At a real newspaper.”

“Oh.” She nodded in understanding.

“So they’re going to do a long distance relationship for the summer, even though Max says that those  _ never _ work.”

“Long distance?”

“Yeah, when….when two people are dating, but they have to be far away from each other for a while, they sometimes call it a long distance relationship.”

“Oh. Why does Max say it never works?”

“Because you’re far away, sometimes people, I don’t know...forget about each other.”

“Yeah, but….” she thought about something she’d heard Joyce say before. Remembering, she quoted “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”

Mike grinned. “Yeah, but ‘out of sight, out of mind’.”

It got quiet for a moment, and when El didn’t say anything, Mike looked over and could see the wheels were turning in her head. “What is it?” he asked.

“ _ We _ were in a long distance relationship.”

That got Mike to sit up on an elbow. “What do you mean?”

“Well...when I was in the woods, and you were here. Was that a long distance relationship?”

Mike thought about that for a moment. Shrugging his shoulders, he said “I  _ guess _ . But usually people are, you know...dating and stuff when they’re in a long distance relationship. And we weren’t dating yet.”

She turned her head. “You didn’t see me as your girlfriend then?”

Mike blushed. “Well, I mean, I was  _ hoping _ you would be.”

She laughed, as she moved to lay on his shoulder. “I hope we’re never far apart again.”

“I hope so, too.”

They lay there, enjoying the sounds of outside Hawkins for a few minutes before El spoke again.

“But if we were…” she began.

“Yeah?”

“Do you think it would work? Between us?” She sounded unsure.

“Of course it would, El,” he answered without hesitation. “If we could survive 353 days, demodogs, and Mind Flayers, we could survive anything. Even something as painful as being separated for a while.”

She closed her eyes, but smiled. “I hope so.”

“I  _ know _ so,” he told her. “In fact…” El was surprised when he sat up suddenly. “Come on,” he said, motioning for her to sit up.

Grinning, she did, asking “What’re you doing?”

“Put your hand like this,” he said, raising his right hand.

Giggling, she followed suit.

“Okay. Repeat after me. I, Mike Wheeler…”

“I, Mike Wheeler…”

“No, okay...I mean...say  _ your _ name instead of mine, but everything else, repeat. Okay? So...I, Mike Wheeler…”

Laughing, she said “I, El Hopper…”

“Do solemnly swear…”

“Do solemnly swear…”

“That no matter how far apart I am from El Hopper…”

“That no matter how far apart I am from Mike Wheeler…”

“I know she’s always with me.”

She smiled. “I’ll know he’s always with me.”

He smiled back. “So now if we ever have to be apart, we can always remember that.”

She moved closer, and pecked his lips before they both settled back on their backs. Her hand finding his, she said “And I could always find you in the Void.”

“Yeah, but that’s cheating…”

 

_ 5 years later _

 

El sat in the Hopper living room, eyes darting between the phone and the television. It was almost 7:30, their normal phone call time. Mike was off at college; El would be joining him in a few months. So far it’d been 85 days since he’d left, and every day she missed him more; with some days being worse than others. And though today had been a fairly decent one, she just missed Mike. The phone calls helped, but it wasn’t the same.

At exactly 7:30, the phone rang.

“Mike?” she asked, picking it up after the first ring.

“Hey, El,” he said into the phone. “I was actually going to call a few minutes ago, but I didn’t know if you’d be out or something, and…”

“I was here,” she said, smiling. “I was waiting for you.”

“Oh.” There was a moment of silence, until he said “I missed you today.”

She sighed, and cradled the phone closer to her. “I missed you, too. I just...I really miss you, Mike.”

“I know, I know. Why don’t you tell me about your day?”

So she talked about the local happenings in Hawkins; her work filing at the police station, Hopper and Joyce’s upcoming wedding, and her classes at Hawkins Community College. He talked about his classes and his roommates, and how he couldn’t wait to show her around campus during her visit in two weeks.

It felt good talking again, but despite that, El felt herself tearing up when it was time to say goodnight.

“I’ll call you tomorrow,” Mike told her.

“I know. I’ll be thinking about you until then.”

“Me too. I...hold on, my roommate’s telling me something.”

There was a shuffling of the phone, and El took that moment to whisper something to herself. When Mike came back, she was finishing the recitation 

“What were you saying?” Mike asked.

“Nothing.”

“El…”

“I was saying, um…” she blushed, embarrassed. “I, El Hopper, do solemnly swear that no matter how far apart I am from Mike Wheeler I’ll always know he’s with me.”

There was a chuckling on Mike’s end, causing El’s blush to spread before he said “You still remember that?”

“Of course,” she said. “Believe it or not, it helps sometimes.”

There was a nervous laugh, before Mike said “I say it, too.”

“Really?”

“Really. And it helps me, too.”

She smiled. “I love you.”

“I love you, too, El. Talk to you tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

They hung up, and El let out a sigh of content. Two weeks couldn’t get here soon enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments make me smile :)  
> Thanks for reading.


End file.
